2008 Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery Registration Now Available
The Department of State announced last week that applicants may now register for the 2008 Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery program. The registration period will close on Sunday, December 3, 2006 at Noon EST.
The annual DV program makes permanent residence visas available to persons meeting certain eligibility requirements based upon a computer-generated random drawing. To be eligible, the the applicant must have either a high school education or its equivalent, defined as successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education; or, two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience to perform. Spouses and unmarried children under age 21 of successful entrants may also apply for visas to accompany or follow to join the principal applicant.
The winners will be distributed among six geographic regions with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration, with no visas going to persons born in countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. over the period of the past five years. Within each region, no one country may receive more than 7% of the available Diversity Visas in any one year.
Currently, persons born in the following countries are NOT eligible for the DV program due to the high volume of immigrants coming from those countries: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.
We encourage persons who seek permanent residence in the United States, and who are not born in one of the above countries, and who meet the minimum eligibility requirements to register for the DV program. Even if the applicant is being sponsored by his or her employer for permanent residence, the DV program may provide a means of obtaining a green card more quickly in some cases.
Those selected in the random drawing will be notified by mail between May and July 2007. DV-2008 visas will be issued between October 1, 2007 and September 30, 2008.
Registration is free and easy, and must be done electronically through the Department of State’s website. The process does not require the assistance of an attorney. (If the person is selected for a DV visa, filing fees will be required for the application process, and it may be helpful to engage the services of an attorney at that point).
For complete instructions on the registration process and the eligibility requirements, please visit the Department of State’s website at http://travel.state.gov/pdf/DV_2008_Final.pdf.
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